System, method and program product for automatically matching new members of a population with analogous members

Abstract

A population comparison system, method and a computer program product therefor. A stored list of population members, e.g., hydrocarbon reservoirs, characteristics and analogous members is partitioned into lists for each member. A weighting system automatically uses the partitions to determine a weight set (w*) for population member characteristic and a similarity function. The weighting system may include an objective model that iteratively, blindly identifies analogous members for each population member until the identified analogous members match the listed analogous members. An analogous member selector uses the weights set (w*) and similarity function to automatically select analogous listed members for each new population member.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0001]1. Field of the Invention[0002]The present invention is related to valuating hydrocarbon reservoirs and more particularly to automatically selecting known analogous reservoirs for valuating newly identified hydrocarbon reservoirs.[0003]2. Background Description[0004]Each new hydrocarbon reservoir has an inherent total value that is based on unknown properties. In particular, the inherent value depends on the total amount of material that is ultimately recoverable from the reservoir (production potential) and the cost of recovering the material or capture difficulty. Until the material is actually recovered, those unknown properties remain unknown and the inherent value can only be estimated. Previously to estimate value, one or more experts first identified and selected existing reservoirs with certain similar aspects to the new reservoir, known as “analogous reservoirs.” The expert(s) used the selected analogous reservoirs to estimate the value of t...

AI Technical Summary

Problems solved by technology

A mis-valuation could lead to wasted resources, e.g., from passing on an undervalued reservoir to exploit an overvalued reservoir.

Generally, a common problem with these approaches is continued reliance on subjective judgment without necessarily arriving at the most similar matches.

Although this has automated identifying the final selection, it is still somewhat subjective because experts still choose the properties and weights.

Consequently, selecting the best properties and weights is still subjective and makes selecting analogous reservoirs a difficult and error-prone task.

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